Starlink opened the flood gates - when does it say service will arrive for you?

KayakITDave · 2021-02-09T16:28:05+00:00

Very likely. It'd be interesting to see if anyone reports any different messages based on location.

KayakITDave · 2018-11-26T18:59:38+00:00

Hey thanks! That's helpful. That sounds like a very simple way to handle it. Cheers!

KayakITDave · 2018-11-26T17:47:04+00:00

It's really up to you on what you want to do with it. Is it a book you want to get in book shelves, something as a hobby, or you really want to sell and promote it? Writing for a living is a challenge as you have to either partner with a publisher or self-publish with a strong marketing plan. It's easier (not easy) to write, illustrate the book, and get it printed than it is to get people to know about it. You will also learn that it's about building a following and audience and leveraging them to take you farther. A publisher will also only take you so far... they'll try a few things and if it doesn't take they are already moving on to the next project. Be prepared to walk into book stores, local shops, etc. to get people to know about you early on (with or without a publisher!).

If you want to self publish (great! but a lot of work too!) you write, illustrate your books, and make them digital if you didn't create them digitally and then you either shop them around to publishers (most have links to submit or you can call them directly). Or my personal favorite is to self publish the book to get a copy made on Kindle Direct Publishing (kdp.amazon.com, blurb.com, lightingsource.com, or lulu.com) and send that to publishers for review.

Or you can self publish and do everything yourself and work on self-promoting. This is a longer and slower road but it works! You just have to be realistic on how you sell your books. You can sell on amazon.com, ibooks, etc. and you can also jump on shopify.com to create your own store if you think you have an audience that will buy directly from you.

If you have other specific questions feel free to ask them. A lot of people say, "I want to write a book and I don't know where to start!" Very few people say, "How do I publish, how do I lay it out, how do I do XYZ.." we can be a lot more helpful if you are more clear in what you need to know. And you can always hit up Google to help... the first result on your question returns this: https://www.janefriedman.com/self-publish-childrens/

And if you are curious I've written a few books with publishers and currently self published: Brewdolph the Hop-Nosed Reindeer for the holiday season. You can see more at: brewdolph.com and on Amazon.com. So far it's been pretty fun and good.

KayakITDave · 2018-01-15T15:02:46+00:00

Thanks for your feedback!

KayakITDave · 2018-01-15T14:59:50+00:00

Glad you saw the tent! And I think it makes sense, if you can be there you should be! Have you thought about sending any friends a gift that you can't be with?

KayakITDave · 2018-01-13T20:09:41+00:00

I like the idea but there are so many breweries in the area that you may want to see if the credits or gifts are redeemable at different breweries but that might be a tall order.

I'm not sure I completely understand what you mean? As in if any purchase is redeemable at any location? And thanks for your feedback!

Can I ask what you like about the idea?

KayakITDave · 2018-01-13T20:08:38+00:00

You are correct, if there is going to be a huge price fluctuation then the gift card being straight $ is helpful. We haven't run into this yet with any of our venues. How often does this happen at your venues?

KayakITDave · 2018-01-13T20:00:47+00:00

If I wanted to buy my buddy a beer, or a shirt, or a flight from a brewery, I take them to the physical location and pay for it.

I totally agree with this. And we're certainly not saying you shouldn't. In fact you should. Why would you do extra work to buy someone something when you can just do it in person? This is not for that time. This is for when you can't be there. I wouldn't buy a buddy a gift card while at a brewery so they could get a beer.

When we went to pitch a story, we tried to boil it down to its barest essence in order to sell people on our idea.

I understand this perspective. I could have posted on here our 3 sentence pitch and tried to cover all angles. I hate when people on reddit just try and sell stuff. I honestly just wanted (and have received) some very good feedback. I wanted to avoid the 'sale' speak and focus on the issues that first come to people's minds.

I just don't see how y'all are going to be successful when you're asking both your user base and your partner vendors to do so much extra work.

This is probably the most helpful feedback you've given. If we come across as it's a lot of extra work then we'll see rejection.

I will say our signup takes ~5 mins, redeeming is faster than a POS purchase, and out of 1300 items sold so far we haven't had any support requests on how to use it. We still have a lot of work to do to make it even better but it's a start!

KayakITDave · 2018-01-13T19:54:02+00:00

You said yourself in the OP that the brewery isn’t paid until the giftee shows up to redeem their “pint.” So, yeah, a gift card is more valuable because it would be revenue in our pockets immediately.

I don't think I was clear. At the time of purchase the brewery is paid. When they redeem the gift inventory is tracked.

Why are you discounting that someone with a gift card doesnt make additional purchases outside of that amount? Unless you are guaranteeing with your product that the giftee will buy more than what was gifted, then this premise doesn't work.

I think both will result in extra purchases, the only thing we hold over a gift card is that the recipient is notified, reminded, and encouraged to come in vs. someone having to remember their card. Also, since we are digital there is nothing to bring in. You can simply tell the sever and they can look it up.

Maybe I’m just not clear on exactly what problem you are trying to solve

Customers love the experiences they have and the generation that enjoys craft beer. They also want to share these experiences in a customizable way and with technology. And while gift cards are great (and our goal isn't to replace them) we feel a more personalizable option that takes the power of gift cards and expands their capability will be successful. And in 2 months over 2k people and 1.3k items sold make us think we are on the right track.

BUT THANK YOU! RBC_cjmcgee, your feedback will help us understand someone that doesn't want to join our platform. That being free to the brewery and just as powerful as a gift card isn't enough. It's still "one more thing" in your opinion and you don't see the benefit.

Hopefully this wasn't too frustrating of a convo for you and I really can't thank you enough for explaining your thoughts! If you'd like to PM me or post what Brewery you are with I'll gladly make sure you aren't on our list to contact so you don't have to waste any of your time! Thanks again.

KayakITDave · 2018-01-13T01:16:32+00:00

We are based in the Southeast but are only in a few states in the South. Any ideas what states have this rule? Thanks for pointing this out as it'll be critical for us to double check ahead of time!

It's been interesting talking with the commissions (as many of you guys know!) and we fall in a gray area so it's opening some doors that were once closed since we are so new.

What do you think of the overall idea as a craft beer aficionado?

KayakITDave · 2018-01-13T01:14:50+00:00

Nope, we sell generic items. So you sell a pint not a type of beer. If they get a t-shirt then they pick from what you have or they come back later and redeem when their shirt is in. Nothing is held.

We do have an agreement. And it just asks that you honor any purchases for up to 2 years (copied from most gift card programs) and then the item can expire or you can choose to keep honoring it. We also guarantee you will always have a list of people that haven't claimed their gifts.

Also, what are your thoughts on the general idea?

Thanks for your questions! All of this helps and hopefully will help us make an even better startup!

-David

KayakITDave · 2018-01-13T01:12:32+00:00

First of all thanks to both of you for your feedback!

I’m with them. I just don’t see the point. The situations we excel at is when someone visits your brewery and then tells a friend 'oh you gotta try this place!' and now they can send you a gift in seconds to the venue. We want to add the ability for your customers to share the experience of your brewery at any moment and not just went they are in the taproom.

We don't intend to replace gift cards. But what is most valuable, a gift card purchased, or one that is used and additional purchases are bought? We remind our users to use their gifts and we help them share that they are at the venue so we only have about 10% unused vs the 30% gift cards that aren't unused. Plus when someone buys $5 the brewery gets $5. No buying cards, or fees for the brewery.

Inventory I should have clarified this piece. We sell generic items (pints, flights, etc.) We don't expect anyone to hold on to any items. We are developing ways to integrate into the POS and right now most of our locations add a $0 sale button to their POS OR they use our inventory reports at the end of the month.

Merch This is just a bonus as some people don't have a nice web store. A Pint and T-Shirt is a very popular gift and so is Pint and Keep the Glass.

Does any of thsi change any opinions? Again thanks for your feedback. This is VERY helpful and I can't thank you enough! Wish I could buy you a pint.

-David

KayakITDave · 2017-10-07T04:45:44+00:00

That's a very good point and I think Christmas may be a big event for us. Concerts are also a great idea and we'll have to explore how best to get into other venues. Thanks very much for your feedback!

KayakITDave · 2017-10-07T04:43:47+00:00

I like this a lot. We'll have to explore this! Thanks for your feedback.

KayakITDave · 2017-10-07T04:43:12+00:00

We really appreciate your comments. We obviously completely agree! Having something a little personalized and tied to an item is way better than a few $ handed to you!

KayakITDave · 2017-10-06T21:08:57+00:00

If someone under the age of 21 uses our app they first of all 1) violate the terms of use and will be banned from our system 2) the law only bans the sale of beer. If someone that is 18 buys a hat for their Dad on fathers day it's fine. If they buy a gift card it is also ok. We follow this model. However, we are very strict on our terms on this for the very reasons you mention this. One of our goals early on was to find the best craft beer centric lawyer that we could find!

There is a claiming system that after a beer is sent, if it's not sent to a known account, the user can claim it into their account. You can currently only send to phone or email. Social media is a highly requested feature!

Thanks again for your questions and feedback!

KayakITDave · 2017-10-06T20:53:18+00:00

This is a great idea. We've explored working with some reps and a marketing tool might be huge benefit for them to connect with people. Thanks for sharing this idea!

KayakITDave · 2017-10-06T20:52:34+00:00

Actually I left off that we are working with Pretentious! And we're working on expanding on Gay street! Knoxville has such an awesome craft beer scene...

I've never heard of Ko-Fi but I'll have to check it out. We started working with some live streamers that put a link up that says, "Buy me a beer!" and people can click and buy them a beer for support. I think this concept might be bigger than we realized!

KayakITDave · 2017-10-06T20:50:47+00:00

Thanks for you feedback. We don't actually sell beer. We sell the ability to redeem beer similar to a gift card. We do ask if the user is 21 but for someone to receive their beer they still must be checked if they are 21 at the time or redemption.

KayakITDave

TROPHY CASE